Stocks opened in positive territory as investors grew optimistic about the ongoing trade talks with China. The market continued to tack on gains and saw the Dow surpass the 26,000 level. The averages moved in a narrow range throughout the afternoon but were supported by reports the Chinese had agreed to purchase up to an additional $1.2T worth of U.S. goods and that President Trump would host President Xi at Mar-a-Lago in late March. The market’s move was broad-based, with each of the averages gaining roughly 0.5% to end another winning week on a positive note.
ECONOMIC EVENTS: Baker Hughes reported that the U.S. rig count is down 4 rigs from last week to 1,047 rigs. In trade news, CNBC's Kayla Tausche reported that the U.S. and China are discussing a late March summit between President Trump and President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. CNBC added that the two sides remain far apart on tech transfer issues and that Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said that the two parties have come to a deal on currency matters.
TOP NEWS: Shares of Kraft Heinz (KHC) plunged 27.5% after Wall Street largely abandoned the stock following its Q4 results, writedown of goodwill for two of its big brands and a dividend cut. The consumer packaged foods maker also revealed a probe by the SEC over the accounting practices in its procurement division, prompting at least seven downgrades of the stock to Neutral or equivalent ratings. The slide also means big paper losses for Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A, BRK.B), which reportedly owned more than 325M shares as of the end of 2018. Meanwhile, short seller Prescience Point Capital said that it expects Kellogg (K) to follow Kraft Heinz with a dividend cut.
Shares of Stamps.com (STMP) cratered, losing 57.8% in value after the company gave a much weaker than expected forecast for 2019 along with an announcement that it had ended its exclusive partnership with the U.S. Postal Service.
Shares of Intel (INTC) rose 2.1% after Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore raised his rating on the chipmaker to Overweight, citing his belief that shares "can rerate higher" given that the company has put "a more financially oriented CEO" in charge with the appointment of Robert Swan. Moore raised his price target on Intel shares to $64 from $55.
MAJOR MOVERS: Among the noteworthy gainers was Zillow (Z, ZG), which advanced 24.7% after announcing that co-founder Rich Barton will return as CEO and after reporting quarterly results. Also higher after reporting quarterly results were Wayfair (W) and Roku (ROKU), which gained a respective 27.9% and 25.2%.
Among the notable losers was Diplomat Pharmacy (DPLO), which dropped 56.4% after postponing the release of fourth quarter and fiscal 2018 results and stating that it will need to record a non-cash impairment charge related to its PBM business. Diplomat also withdrew its preliminary 2019 full-year outlook provided in January, stating that early year results have come in significantly below expectations and that it has been notified of additional customer losses in its PBM business since early January. Also lower were Casa Systems (CASA) and Dropbox (DBX), which fell 13.5% and 8.4%, respectively, after reporting quarterly results.
INDEXES: The Dow rose 181.18, or 0.7%, to 26,031.81, the Nasdaq gained 67.84, or 0.9%, to 7,527.54, and the S&P 500 advanced 17.44, or 0.63%, to 2,792.32.
